As president of Siptu, Jack O'Connor, on behalf of his members, has threatened the Government that unless a decision is made within a week to begin talks by February to accelerate "pay restoration" for public servants, he will ballot his members on strike action.

As president of Siptu, Jack O'Connor, on behalf of his members, has threatened the Government that unless a decision is made within a week to begin talks by February to accelerate "pay restoration" for public servants, he will ballot his members on strike action.

His comments were echoed by Patricia King, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, who said this initiative had to begin "immediately". In the background, their political mentor, Labour leader Brendan Howlin, spelt out what they have in mind, "a process that will ensure that the pay of every public servant is restored to where it was before the crisis".

These demands are belligerent, opportunistic, predatory, reckless, and grasping and, for organisations that like to characterise themselves as interested in social justice and who purport to identify with the political left, they reflect disregard for the plight of the most disadvantaged people in our society.

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